Being Persistent

I know you are wondering if I have managed to resolve my laundry situation, so here is an update for you.

I noticed today that my utility sink was empty (the water had all drained) so I decided to try to figure out what its problem is. I disassembled a coat hanger and manuvered it down the drain hoping to snag some nasty hair ball to no avail. I have noticed that everytime the water drains, the sink is left with a gritty, dirty, gross coating all over it which leads me to believe that the drain pipe is just plain yucky and that is the root of the problem. However, I can't take the drain apart because the strainer thing is cemented into the cement sink and the drain line out is also cemented... The design of this OLD sink also leads me to believe that snaking would be tricky.

I hadn't done any laundry since my trip to the laundry mat and we are getting ready to go camping for the weekend. Imagining what the Mount Dirty Clothes will look like by Monday morning sparked a new determination in me.

I grabbed a pair of (Todd's) grandma's old pants (may she rest in peace, although I'm sure she would be rolling in her grave if she knew that her pants were being used to clean out my sink) I scooped out all the nasty sludgy stuff. I then scrapped the sink (with the coat hanger) and put the whole filthy mess in the garbage.

I put a load of laundry in the washing machine. Then I stood there and watched the sink fill. Todd had tried plunging to no avail, but I thought if I plunge while it is filling maybe it will help it go down a little quicker so I can get more than one load done today. For almost the entire wash cycle I plunged. And still, the sink filled with water - first one side then the other.

It then occurred to me - this drain has two holes. The plunger won't form a seal unless I can close the other hole! But I was unable to figure out a way to close up the hole. I gave up for a while and went to work on packing for our trip. But I hate to loose and the stupid drain was beating me! I went back down with one of Cadence's socks and stuffed it into the other drain, grabbed my plunger and went to work. All of the sudden I could hear gurgle noises in the main drain line behind me - this was exciting, so plunged a little harder and a little faster. I pulled up the plunger and viola! I have never seen that sink drain so fast.

I was so excited I wanted shout, "I did it" (I did it, I did it, yeah! - think Dora) But my kids already think I'm weird so I decided I would quietly come upstairs and write about my victory.

Chistians What?

About a month ago I followed a link on a blog I read to get free copies of a couple of books. The only condition was that you post reviews on your own blog when you finished the books. I love books, and I love free stuff. To top it off, I had been hearing things about one of the books and was thinking about buying it. I have since finished Red Letters by Tom Davis (the book I really wanted to get) but am considering reading it a second time before I post - I want to really digest the stuff...

Anyway, I got an email from the author Tom Davis yesterday about an article he wrote for beliefnet. It is called "Why Christians S**k". I couldn't figure that out...I was thinking "seek" and I must have to read the article to figure out in what context "seek" is a bad word. Now, maybe you are smarter than me, but just in case your not, the word is SUCK. "Why Christians Suck" is almost like an introduction to the thinking behind Red Letters. And he's right, Christians do suck! Whether you are a "Christian" or not you should read the article and then make an effort to not suck.

Laundry

Today, I had to go to the Laundry Mat. Yuck! I'm not sure how anyone can do that on a regular basis. Our utility sink that receives the water from our washing machine is suffering from a serious clog. Draino didn't help and neither did Todd with his plunger. After I do a load of laundry, it takes at least two days for the water to drain out.

When I explained to Todd that I think the whole sink needs to be replaced since I can currently only do one load of laundry every three days he said, "That sounds just about right. What's the problem?" Seriously, one load every three days and the dirty laundry really would take over the house!

The only good thing about the laundry mat is that you can do massive amounts of laundry in a short amount of time. I only brought two loads, and only washed, but the way I operate it would have taken a lot more than a half hour to do those two loads at home. If I can't see the washing machine I tend to forget that the clothes need to come out of it. That is another plus for the laundry mat isn't it? I probably wouldn't forget to do the laundry if I was trapped in a hot little building filled with nothing but washers and dryers. But I do forget to clean when I am trapped in house filled with piles and piles of crap (not real crap, just stuff that is like crap) so maybe there is no hope for me....

OOL

This weekend the kids were swimming in their little kiddie pool in the back yard when Jacob came in yelling that Cadence had peed in the pool. Todd called her in and made her get changed and let her know that this behavior isn't okay. She kept insisting that she had not peed in the pool, but Cadence frequently denies her impish behavior... The boys were confident that she really had peed, and as Cadence was being reprimanded for this stunt, Jacob came in to ask "So, can we get back in the pool?" Ummm, NO! Seriously, sometimes he makes me wonder.

It occurred to me to ask Jacob, "How do you know she peed in the pool?" To which he replied, "She said she did!" "Well, did you see pee come out?" "No, but she said she did." Anyway, we finally realized she was pretending to pee in the pool while dumping water out - she was actually innocent (for once).

Summer Reading

Aside from being my anniversary (which I remembered all by myself), July 1 kicked off our summer reading program. Jacob always gets excited about it, but this summer is extra exciting because Gabriel signed up too. They are supposed to be in kindergarten, but since we homeschool I can do whatever I want right? And he definitely reads better than most kindergartners.

My only concern was whether or not they would give my little man a library card (you sign in online with your card number to record reading). I didn't think he could do it, but Gabe wrote his first and last name on that little white strip on the back of the card - my four year old has his own library card! The librarian thought we should take him out for ice cream to celebrate, but we made due with the free movies at Carousel.

The only problem with the summer reading program is that now I can't get the boys to stop reading. Seriously, Jacob polished off 3 chapter books in one day. And Gabe? He got out a big stack of "Henry and Mudge" books - he was all excited when he realized that it was a series...he read all (5 or 6 I think) of them at quiet time. We had to go back to the library after we picked Todd up so the boys could claim prizes and get more books.

And of course Jacob is upset that Gabe is going to win the contest because I won't let Jacob read the really easy books like "Junie B. Jones" or little picture books. When I made the rule, I didn't anticipate Gabe reading as quickly as he did. So I got Gabe some books from "the big boy chapter book room" hopefully they can hold his interest and take a little longer to read!

8 Years!

It was eight years ago today that Todd and I were married! I am not a sentimental person (in fact I have forgotten our anniversary at least twice) but I have been reflecting a lot over this anniversary. It feels really good say "Look how far we've come." And it doesn't have to be our anniversary for me to look at Todd and say "I really am one lucky woman."

There have been lots of ups and downs, and we often say that it feels like we've gone through about 20 years of marriage in eight years. The first 4 or 5 were like being in a pressure cooker...In 5 years we lived in 6 different places, Todd held 4 very different jobs, we attended 5 different churches (two of which, it turns out, bear a strong resemblance to a cult) went through 4 pregnancies (the first two were miscarriages) and and a period of what was beginning to look a lot like infertility. And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of it all.

At one point, we sought some counseling and the counselor asked us about our Myers-Brigs personalities. Todd explained that he is INFP and I am ESTJ - we are complete opposites (although I was right on the fence between I-introvert and E-extrovert.) The counselor just kind of looked at us for a second and said "Wow, its amazing that you guys are still married!" Apparently, the fact that it sometimes feels like our personalities aren't compatible is backed by scientific research :)

The other day I was telling Todd how I see our anniversary as a pretty amazing thing. Most of my college friends didn't think we would last 5 years, and sometimes it felt like they were right. Todd agreed with me when I said that were it not for the grace of God, we would not still be married. We are both pretty darn stubborn, and I am pretty selfish, too! If God hadn't given us the strength and the wisdom to work through it all we likely would have thrown in the towel. I don't know how people do it without Jesus. NOT to say it isn't worth it, but dang, sometimes its hard.